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Coal-fired power station interests

TEPCO is one of the largest shareholders in Great Energy Alliance Corporation (GEAC), which in turn owns Loy Yang Power.[1] Loy Yang Power is the owner and operator of the Loy Yang A power station, which was ranked at the largest greenhouse gas polluting power station in Australia. The power station, which is located near Traralgon in Victoria, was estimated to have emitted 18.81 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) in 2009.[2] The Tokyo Electric Power Company is one of many companies represented at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Shinichi Nakakuki of TEPCO is a reviewer of the synthesis report AR4 [3]

Coal supply

In 2011 TEPCO sourced all 3.31 million tonnes of coal for its own power stations from Australia. (In earlier years TEPCO had occasionally sourced coal from Indonesia, Canda, China and the USA. The company also purchased 49.1 million tonnes of coal on behalf of 10 other electricity utilities. [4]

Electricity generation

Tepco was effectively placed under state control in July 2012 to prevent its dissolution after the Fukushima nuclear crisis. To replace its closed down nuclear facilities, Tepco said it planned to start a bidding process in February 2013 to secure long-term electricity supplies from thermal power sources. Conditions for the bidding cap the per kilowatt power generation costs to ¥9.53, limiting all fuel choices to coal. Tepco said it is planning to curb the greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits from other entities to offset the expected rise in discharges.[5]